Needle bar retracting mechanism for flat knitting machines



May 5, 1936. JIHAINES. JR.. ET AL 2,040,047

I NEEDLE BAR RETRACTING MECHANISM FOR FLAT KNITTING MACHINES Filed Sept. 28, 1934 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllIllllllllll Illllll1|llllIlllllllllllllllHHIHHHH FIG I 3 1|llHHIIIIIIHHllllilllllllllllllllllll UVVENTORS:

WI TNESSES y ag Bi.

y 1936- J. HAINES, JR, ET L 2,040,047

NEEDLE BA'R RETRACTING MECHANISM FOR FLAT KNITTING MAbI-IINES Filed Sept. 28, 1954 5 sheets-sheet 2 WITNESSES: INVENTOR'S:

May 5, 1936. .1. HAINES, JR.. ET AL 2,040,047

NEEDLE BAR RETRACTING MECHANISM FOR FLAT KNITTING MACHINES Filed Sept. 28, 1954 v 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 l3 12/ M FIC% H I O or I 2 52/ I Mi 3 19 W 51 Q5 Q? ITNESSES: INVENTORS:

WTTORNEYS.

y 1936 J. HAINES, JR.. ET AL 2,040,047

NEEDLE BAR RETRACTING MECHANISM FOR FLAT KNITTING MACHINES Filed Sept 28, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 55 FIG-1f WITNESSES: INVENTORS:

Joseph Jflines Ji:, 8:.

y 1936- J. HAINES, JR., ET AL 2,040,047

NEEDLE BAR RETRMTING MECHANISM FOR FLAT KNITTING MACHINES Fili Sept. 28, 1934 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG. 12'- WITNESSES: IN VENTOR8:

Patented May 5, ,1936

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE NEEDLE BAR RETBAC'IING MECHANISM FOR FLAT KNITTING MACHINES Application September 28, 1934, Serial No. 745,840 '1 Claims. (CI. 66-82) This invention relates to needle bar retractin mechanism for fiatknitting machines; and it has reference more particularly to needle bar retracting means for flat knitting machines of the 5 cotton type such as are used in the manufacture of full fashioned stockings and the like.

Knitting machines of the kind specifically referred to embody a series of knitting sections, usually eighteen to twenty-four of them, with 10 single or double needle bars. These needle bars are pivotally supported by individual cam-actuating lifting arms so that they may be swung rearward from their normal plane of operation when fabric transfers are to be made to the needies as, for example, in applying pre-knit welt or rib tops. elastic fabrics, etc., to the needles of machines known as leggers whereby the stocking legs are knitted in continuation, or in applying stocking leg blanks knitted on the leggers to the needles of machines known'as footers whereby the stocking feet are knit in continuation of the leg blanks. In preparation for transfers of the character indicated, the machines are brought to a stop, whereafter the operatives are required to individually unlatch the connecting link bars from the cam actuated presser arms by which the beard presser movement is induced in the latter, in effecting the retraction of said needle bars to facilitate application of rib tops, elastic fabric, or stocking leg blanks as the case may be by means of transfer bars, and after the transfers have been effected, to relatch said connecting links with the presser arms before knitting can be resumed. These steps entail the loss of a very considerable amount of time during which the machines are idle, with consequent curtailment of production to a corresponding degree.

Our invention is directed toward overcoming the drawbacks which have been pointed out, which object we realize in practice as hereinafter more fully explained, through provision of both manually and automatically operative mechanism whereby the several needle bars of 45 a legger or a footer may be simultaneously retracted from their normal plane of operation for transfer purposes without necessitating the unlatching and relatching of the connecting links from the presser arms.

50 Fig. I of the drawings shows, in part, the

front elevation of a fiat knitting machine conveniently embodying our improved needle bar retracting mechanism in a form designed for automatic actuation. v

55 Fig. II is across sectional view of the machine taken as indicated by the arrows 11-11 in Fig. I. Fig. III is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken as indicated by the arrows III-III in Fig. I. I

Fig. IV is a perspective view showing a special 5 cam forming a part of our novel needle bar retracting mechanism.

Fig. V is a fragmentary plan sectional view taken as indicated by the arrows VV in Fig. II.

Fig. VI is a fragmentary sectional view corresponding to Fig. II, of a fiat knitting machine fitted with a manually-operable form of our needle bar retracting mechanism.

Fig. VII is a fragmentary plan section taken as indicated by the arrows VII--VII in Fig. VI; and I Fig. VIII is a view like Fig. VII with the parts differently positioned.

With reference first more particularly to Figs. I-V of these illustrations, the knitting machine therein delineated comprises spaced cross frames l which are connected by longitudinals 2, 3, 4 and '5 and which set apart a multiplicity of knitting sections 6 with needle bars I, each such section having, in this instance, two aligned banks of needles 8 for knitting as many stocking blanks. Each section 6 of the machine is moreover provided with two aligned rows of sinkers 9 (Fig. II) which cooperate with the needles 8 in the knitting, and which are horizontally slidable in heads supported on the frame longitudinal 4. Also as usual, the needle bar I of each knitting section Ii is pivotally supported at I0 by a pair of lifting arms II reaching horizontally inward from a longitudinal rock shaft II which is jour- 5 naled in suitable hearings on the frames I. Secured to the rock shaft I2 in each knitting section 6, is a spring-pulled cam lever I3 carrying a roller I4 which runs in peripheral contact with a rotary cam I5 on the main cam shaft I6 of the machine. By the parts just described, the needle bars I of the several knitting sections 6 are moved up and down during each rotation of the cam shaft I6 to lift and depress the needles relative to the sinkers incident to the formation of fabric loops in the well known manner. Concurrently with this up and down movement the needle bars 1 are given an in and out movement relative to the beard closing edges II afforded so by the sinker heads through rocking of the needle bars on the pivots 'III, the parts for effecting this movement including drop arms I8 on the needle bars, which are coupled, by means of links IS, with lateral studs 20 on spring-pulled presser cams 23 on the main cam shaft i6 I When pre-formed fabrics are to be transferred 7 to the needles 8, it is necessary that the needle bars be retracted from their normal plane of operation to provide suflicient clearance between the needles and the needle beard pressing edges I! of the sinker heads as shown in Fig. II, for insertion of the points of the transfer bars. This is ordinarily accomplished by manually lifting the links I9 in the several knitting sections 6 successively to disengage their notches |9a from the studs 20 on the presser arms 2|' and then shifting the links forward to engage their notches |9b with said studs 20 to hold-the needle bars temporarily retracted.

As hereinbefore stated, our invention is directed toward making it possible to retract all the needle bars 1 simultaneously for the purposes of fabric transfers. In order that this may be accomplished automatically, we have provided mechanism as follows: Secured to the main cam shaft I6 immediately adjacent the presser cam 23 in each knitting section 6 is a special cam 24 which has a deep peripheral recess 24a. Guided in bearings 25 on the frames is a longitudinal shift rod 26 which carries a series of forks 21 that individually engage the rollers 22 of the presser arms 2|, and which, during the shifting of said. rod, moves said rollers from the presser cams 23 tothe special cams 24 and vice versa, said rollers being accordingly slidable on the roller studs 28 of the presser arms. Interposed between a collar 29 on the rod 26 and one of the bearings 25, is a helical compression spring 36 which tends to urge the rod toward the left in Figs. I and V,-thereby to maintain another 001- lar 3| on said rod in contact with the edge of. a wedge cam 32. By means of a connecting rod 33, this wedge cam 32 is coupled-with the arm 35a of a bell crank lever as which is fulcrumed at u III) whichis adapted to be racked by a pawl 42 pivotally connected at 43 with apawl arm 44 on said shaft, said pawl arm being vibrated through an eccentric 45 connected with the main cam shaft l6 of the machine. The racking, of the -ratchetwheel 4| is controlled by a pawl guard 46 which is in the form of a bell crank lever having an arcuate surface concentric with. the auxiliary shaft 39 whereon the pawl 42 normally rides idly. However, when the pawl guard 46 is actuated, the pawl drops from the idling surface into machine framework. At the forward end of the shaft 49 is a finger 52 having a roller .53 at the end thereof to cooperate with special links 54 on the special cams 2 an auxiliary cam shaft 33- the control chain of the machine, which latter is shown in part at 55 in Figs. I and III. A suilicient number of the special lugs 54 are provided on the chain 55 to determine a complete rotation of the auxiliary cam shaft 39 for each knitting cycle of. the machine. When the rotary cam 38 on the auxiliary shaft 39' is brought to the position shown in Fig. II to actuate the bell crank lever 35, the wedge cam 32 is drawn rearwardly through induced pull on the link 33, whereby the rod 21 is shifted to the position' shown in Fig. V with attendant movement of the presser arm rollers 22 from the presser cams 23 to the special cams 24. This action is timed to occur just before the depressions 240 on the special cams 24 reach the rollers 22, so that when the machine is automatically stopped under control-of be transferred to said needles as ordinarily. With initiation of the first rotation of the cam shaft |6 upon restarting the machine for resumption of the tting after the transfers havebeen made, the rollers 22 ride out of the depressions 24a of At the same time, the ratchet 4| on the cam shaft 39 is racked another tooth from the position shown in Fig. II, with attendant actuation of the bell crank 35 and the rod 33 by'the cam 38 to advance the wedge cam 32 to the dot and dash line position in Fig. V thus permitting the rod 26 to be shifted leftward by the spring 36, whereby the rollers 22 are returned to the presser cams 23. In the manually operable form of our needle bar retracting means illustrated in Figs. VI, VII,

and-VIII, an oscillatable wedge cam 56 is provided for shifting the rod 26 which carries the forks 21 for the cam follower rollers 22 of the needle bar presser cams 23 on the cam shaft 6 of the knitting machine. As shown, the cam 56 is fulcrumed at 51 on a bracket 58 secured to one of has an eccentrically durved edge portion 63 inter mediate concentrically curved portions 64 and 65 respectively of small and. large radius. While the wedge cam 56 occupies the normal position shown in Fig. VII, the collar 3| on the rod 26 abuts the short radius concentric portion 64 of said cam with the rollers 22 on the presser arms 2| riding the presser cams 23 on the cam shaft iii of the knitting machine. When the needle bars I of the machine are to be retracted, the wedge cam 56 is swung to the position shown in Fig. VIII, incident to which the eccentrically-curved portion of said cam cooperates with the collar 3| and causes the rod 26 to be shifted rightward against the action of the spring 36 until, at the end of the swing, said collar rests on the concentric large radius curvature 65 of said cam. As a conseqence of this movement of the rod 21, the rollers 22 on the presser afihs 2 Ian shifted from the presser earns 23 to the special cams 24. In order that the foregoing maybe accomplished with surety, the machine is automatically brought to a stop with the cams 23 and 24 on the cam shaft l6 in the position shown in Fig. VI and the rollers 22 of the presser arms 2| riding oncoincitransfer purposes, thus obviating the necessity for individual unlatching of the links which connect the needle bar arms with the presser arms as is ordinarily required. This obviously results in a very considerable saving of time by which production costs are correspondingly reduced.

Having'thus described our invention, we claim: 1. -In a flat knitting machine, a multiplicity of needle bars; a cam shaft; presser cams on said shaft respectively cooperating normally with follower rollers on actuating presser arms for the individual needle bars during the knitting; and automatic mechanism operative at the completion of each knitting cycle to place the several needle bars in a position retracted from their normal plane of operation for transfer purposes, including special cams on the cam shaft, and means for shifting the follower rollers on the presser arms from the presser cams to the special cams just before the machine is stopped so that the rollers come to rest in deep peripheral notches of the special cams with the needle bars retracted as aforesaid.

2. In a flat knitting machine, a multiplicity of needle bars; a cam shaft; presser cams on said shaft respectively cooperating normally with fol lower rollers on actuating presser arms for the individual needle bars during the knitting; and automatic mechanism operative at the completion of each-knitting cycle to place the several needle bars in a position retracted from their normal plane of operation for transfer purposes, including special cams on the cam shaft, a shift rod with a series of forks thereon engaging the follower rollers, and means for actuating the rod to effect shifting of the follower rollers from the presser cams to the special cams just before stoppage of the machine so that the rollers come to rest in deep peripheral notches of the special cams with the needle bars retracted as aforesaid.

3. In a flat knitting machine, a multiplicity of needlejbars; a cam shaft; presser cams on said shaft respectively cooperating normally with follower rollers on actuating presser arms for the individual needle bars during the knitting; and autgmatic mechanism operative-at the completion are h knitting cycle to place the several needle bars in a position retracted from their normal plane of operation for transfer purposes, including special cams on the cam shaft, a spring influenced shift rod with a series of forks thereon engaging the follower rollers, a wedge cam to cooperate with a collar on the shift rod in moving the latter against spring pressure, and means for actuating the wedge cam to effect concurrent shifting of the follower rollers from the presser cams to the special cams just before stoppage of the machine so that the rollers come to rest in deep peripheral notches of the special cams with the needle bars retracted as-aforesaid.

4. In a flat knitting machine, a multiplicity of needle bars; a cam shaft; presser camson said shaft for respectively cooperating normally with follower rollers on actuating presser arms for the individual needle bars during the knitting; and

automatic mechanism operative at the completion of each knitting cycle to place the several needle bars in a position retracted from their normal plane of operation fortrans'fer purposes, in-

cluding special cams on the cam shaft, a spring-- influenced shift rod with a series of forks thereon engaging the follower rollers on the presser arms, a wedge cam to cooperate with a collar on the shift rod in moving the latter against spring pres-. sure, an auxiliary cam shaft rotated by movement derived from the main cam shaft of the machine, and a cam on said auxiliary cam shaft for actuating the wedge cam to effect concurrent shifting of the follower rollers from the presser cams to the special cams just before stoppage of the machine so that the rollers come to rest in deep peripheral notches of the special cams with the needle bars retracted as aforesaid.

i -5. In a flat knitting machine, a multiplicity of needle bars; a cam shaft; presser cams on said shaftrespectively cooperating normally with follower rollers on actuating presser arms for the individual needle bars during the knitting; a control chain; and automatic mechanism operative at the completion of each knitting cycle to place the several needle bars in a position retracted from their normal plane of operation for transfer purposes, including special cams on the cam shaft, a spring-influenced shift rod with a series of forks thereon engaging the follower rollers on the presser arms, a wedge cam to cooperate with a collar on the shift rod in moving the latter against spring pressure, an auxiliary cam shaft intermittently rotated by racking means from the main cam shaft of the machine and governed by the control chain aforesaid, and a cam on said auxiliary cam shaft to effect concurrent shifting of the follower rollers from the presser cams on the main cam shaft to the special cams aforesaid just before stoppage of the machine so that therollers come to rest in deep peripheral notches 'of the special cams with the needle bars retracted as aforesaid.

6. In a flat knitting machine, a multiplicity of needle bars; cooperating fabric forming means;

means for moving the needle bars back and-forth laterally in respect to the cooperative fabric forming means during the knitting; and means automatically operative, upon stoppage of the machine at the completion of a knitting cycle, to withdraw the bars laterally to a retracted position clear of the cooperating fabric forming means for transfer purposes.

7. In a flat knitting machine, a multiplicity of needle bars; cooperating fabric forming means; arms supporting the needle bars with capacity for swinging movement back and forth laterally in respect to the cooperating fabric forming means; meansfor actuating the rocker arms; and means automatically operative, upon stoppage of. the.

machine at the completion of a knitting cycle, to

place the rocker arms in a position with the needle.

bars laterally retracted clear 'ofthe cooperating fabric forming means for transfer purposes.

JOSEPH HAINES, JR. HAROLD F.-PAGE1. 

